Spirits of Life
by That Twisted Fairytale
Summary: You never have a chance to live again. But Katara might with help of two eccentric spirits. But will the price to pay be too much? kataang
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar.

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Spirits of Life

**Chapter 1**

It was a cool, late spring, possibly early summer, night. A soft breeze was brushing through the trees, the white blossoms showering down upon the ground like snow. A soft gurgling sound of running water came from the nearby creek comfortingly. My crystal-like blue eyes fluttered open, as a curious voice broke through the calm silence.

"Hello?" It asked a small hint of anxiety in it.

I sat up, "Aang?" I asked sleepily, "What's wrong?"

The boy, Aang, turned towards me, but his gray eyes wandered the surrounding area. "I thought I heard someone." He replied.

"Is it Zuko and Azula?" I asked.

"It didn't really sound like them though… Go back to sleep Katara. I'm going to take a look around."

I stood up, "I'm coming with you." I said "be careful around the cliffs" I added after a moment. "It rained recently, so the ground will be a little weak."

"Ok…" Aang's voice trailed off.

I cautiously tiptoed past Sokka and Toph, not wanting to wake them. It's been about a week since Ba Sing Se was conquered. Things have changed a lot since then. Aang has pretty much returned to normal which is a relief after how he almost died. Well… I suppose he _did _die. I hate to think about it, but if it hadn't been for the water from the oasis, he would still be dead.

The day after leaving Ba Sing Se, we left the Earth King in a small village nearby so he'd be safe. It doesn't sound very safe, but it's better than traveling with us. It seems as if where ever we go there's both Zuko and Azula, or some Fire Nation soldiers coming after us. Not that it's ever happened before. But now Aang is the only thing stopping the Fire Nation from winning the war so they seem just a little bit more motivated.

"Hello?" I called out, looking around.

The only sound I could hear was the leaves rustling in the breeze. The forest was empty. But Aang heard something… maybe he was imagining it? I sighed and kept on walking. There was no sign of anybody.

Finally I reached the cliffs that I had just warned Aang about.

"Hello?" I asked, my voice echoing in the empty forest and off of the cliffs.

I cautiously walked a bit closer to the edge of the cliffs. I had a peculiar feeling that someone was watching me. I turned my head a bit to the side.

"Hello?" I repeated a bit softer this time.

I shook my head, dismissing the thought of me being watched. The forest was empty, aside from Aang, Sokka, and Toph of course. That's it! They're probably playing a joke me! I bet its Sokka. He's always pretty… well immature. It's hard to believe we're related sometimes.

As I started away from the cliff I felt the earth beneath my feet sink and begin to flow downward.

'_Oh no, no, no, no, no'_ I frantically thought.

My hand instinctively reached for my side, where my water skin was usually, but I found empty air. I had left it back at the camp! My eyes flickered around searching, in false hope that there was some water I could bend to possibly save me.

I shut my eyes, preparing myself for the fall, but it never happened. Someone, or something, had stopped me from falling. It felt as if someone was behind me and they had their hands against my back, stopping me from falling. I felt a gentle shove from behind me pushing me back up to safety.

As I found steady footing, I spun around, expecting to see Aang grinning at me but… there was no one there…

"_Katara_" Aang's voice called me, and in a moment I saw him running towards me.

He stopped and stared at me as if he had seen a ghost.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

He was silent for a moment, his eyes still watching the exact same spot. I turned around, but like a few seconds ago, no one was there.

"Are you ok Aang?" I asked.

"Yeah…" He muttered, still not shifting his gaze away. "I'm fine."

"Let's get back to camp then. I didn't see anybody."

"You didn't?" Aang asked sounding a bit startled.

"No…" I replied, but I remembered the gentle shove that had saved me from being pulled down by the landslide.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Well, I-"

I was interrupted by a sudden yell coming from the direction of our camp.

"Sokka, Toph!" I yelled, running into the forest.

I could hear Aang running next to me. We shouldn't have left the camp! What if something bad happened to them? What if Zuko and Azula had them?

I skidded to a halt in front of our camp.

"Zuko…" I growled, my eyes narrowing at the sight of him. Part of me, no, no I'm sorry, _all of me_ is still angry with me for believing him when he said that he had changed. That of course doesn't mean that I'm not mad at him though.

Sokka and Toph were standing back to back in a fighting stance, and Zuko, Azula, and Mai were surrounding them. For a moment I wondered where the girl, Ty Lee was. But her not being here puts us to an advantage. She won't be able to take away my bending. Losing my bending is something I never want to feel again. I discovered that the first time it happened, at Omashu.

"Avatar it's about time you joined us, it's high time I finished you off, and this time _no_ mistakes"

As Azula spoke, her icy voice rang out in the dangerous silence.

"You'll have to get through me first!" I snapped at her, glancing over to Aang.

Surprisingly though, Aang's eyes weren't on the Fire Nation princess. They were still watching me, or more like something near me.

"If you insist" she said coolly.

She raised one of her hands towards the still star studded sky, immediately swinging he arm down backwards so that her hand pointed towards me as it began its journey up wards again, a jet of blue flame streaming towards me.

I dodged to the left, momentarily stooping down to pick up my water skin. I slung it over my shoulder, opening it with my thumb. The fluid water left the pouch, guide. I sent a thin stream of water at her like a whip.The water whip snapped back into the pouch as it made contact with her. She stumbled back, snarling and her cruel amber eyes glaring at me. I returned the gaze, narrowing my blue orbs at her.

She thrust her fist at me, blue fire erupting towards me. I brought a stream of water out of the water skin but I was too late. A searing pain went through my left arm as the fire made contact with my skin. I fell back, the water dropping out of the air and seeping into the ground. As I brought out a little more water from the sac another burst of fire was sent at me. I threw myself to the side to avoid the fire.

I narrowed my eyes and stood up, backing up quickly before she could attack again, until the creek was behind me at my feet. Ignoring the intense pain in my arm I brought both arms up. Behind me I could hear the water being pulled up in large pillars. Simultaneously I sent the two pillars of water shooting at her. She was knocked back several feet and as she picked herself up from the soaked ground, the water at her feet froze. I lifted my arms higher, water from the ground rising up in the air above her head. I abruptly dropped my arms, needles of ice falling down on her, pinning her in place.

I let out a relieved sigh, turning to the creek. I brought some water up, surrounding my hand, and I put it to my burn. The water began to glow a light blue as it healed my wound.

After that everything seemed to happen in a blur.

The first thing I heard was the sound of chattering ice followed by Aang screaming my name in a fearfully desperate voice. I spun around in time to see Azula pointing her arm up to the sky. A thin bolt of blue lightening grew at her fingertips. In an instant she swung her arm, the bolt of lightening heading straight for my heart.

As the lightening made contact with my heart, in a useless last-ditch effort to protect myself I thrust my arms towards her, sending two rushes of water at her. I fell into the cool water of the creek quickly losing consciousness. The last thing I could remember is Aang screaming my name once more in anguish before the morning's golden and pink tinted sky faded into eternal night.

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**A/N: Please no flames about character death! I don't mind flames overall just don't scream something I already know, and can't and WON'T be changed in my face. It's obnoxious, annoying, and immature. Get over it if you don't like it. **

**The second thing I'd like to mention is a thanks to my friend, prongsthewhitehart, for helping me write the fight scene at the end of this chapter and for beta reading this fic.**

**A few of the ideas from this fic are based off of Full Moon Wo Sagashite but it is very different from it.**

**Thanks for reading and reviews are appreciated but advise is adored.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar the last airbender, but I do own Tsukiko, Kohaku, Pop, Aimi and other characters you don't recognize.

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**Chapter 2**

My eyes blinked open into the early afternoon sun.

'Where am I…?' I wondered.

I tried to push myself up, but I was too weak.

"What's going on… where is everyone…?" I mumbled.

Suddenly two tall shadows blocked the sunlight shining down upon me. I stared at them in silence until one of them said impatiently, "This is the part where you say 'Who are you?'"

I stared at the shadows. "Umm… who are you…?" I asked hesitantly.

"Your worst nightmare!" The voice replied, beginning to laugh maniacally.

Another voice burst out in peals of laughter.

"WHAT'S SO FUNNY KOHAKU?!" The first voice screeched.

"You sounded so… funny… and stupid…" The voice snickered.

I managed to push myself up after a second try, "Who are you people."

"Uh, uh." The first voice told. "Not people. We are spirits."

I stared at them. The two people, or spirits, looked normal enough, aside from the two white wings growing out of their back. The first one was a girl a couple years older than me with white hair up in two buns at the top of her head. The rest of her hair flowed down past her hips. She had clear blue eyes, the color of pure water and ice and she wore dark blue pants and a shirt and skirt that were a lighter shade of blue. The skirt went down a little past her knees and a white sash was tied around her waist.

The other figure was a boy about the same age as the girl and had light brown hair and deep brown eyes the color of chestnuts. He wore a dark brown shirt with a dark green jacket over it and brown pants. He was biting his lip with a glint of amusement in his eyes, obviously trying to hold back his laughter.

"Ok… so who are you spirits?" I asked after taking a good look at the two.

"Well… I am the almighty and wonderful Tsukiko!" The girl said, thrusting her arms in the air and grinning. "And this is Kohaku." She nodded at the boy.

I raised my eyebrows wondering if this girl was completely sane and looked around. My heart sank as I saw that the three of us were alone.

"Umm you two haven't seen my friends anywhere have you? One is my brother… has a short pony tail… another is a boy with an arrow on his head and the other is an earthbender girl who's about twelve and she's blind… Ok thanks anyways I'll be going now." I stood and began to walk off.

"You won't be able to find them." Kohaku said seriously.

"What do you mean?" I asked, my heart beating at an uncomfortably fast rate, "Did something happen to them?"

"No…" Tsukiko said slowly as if trying to choose the correct words. "You see… you ah… past away recently…"

"That can't be true." I said shaking my head. But for some reason, even though I said I didn't believe her, part of me was.

"Think about it for a little bit." Kohaku said patiently. "Try to remember. I know it's hard… I know that from experience…"

I turned towards them, "But I can't be dead! How did I wake up!?"

Tsukiko sighed walking over to me and lead me to the creek.

"Look at your reflection." She said simply.

I stared down shocked to see that, like Tsukiko and Kohaku, I too had two white wings.

"But I can't be!" I protested, "What about Aang… and Sokka? Sokka's my brother! And I have to help Aang defeat the Fire Lord! I can't be dead!"

"Well… like us… now you're a spirit." Kohaku said a bit uneasily.

I thought for a couple minutes and said, "Isn't there some way I could live again?" I whispered.

"Yes… actually there is." Kohaku told me.

I glanced up quickly at him, a burst of hope in my heart.

"Shut up Kohaku!" Tsukiko snapped, her kind voice suddenly as cold as ice.

My head snapped over to her in shock and anger. The cheerful face that had been grinning like a child suddenly became cold. Her lips were pressed in a thin line and her delicate eyebrows were forming a glower at the young man.

"You know that's not allowed!" She snapped.

"I was only telling her the truth." He replied calmly.

"But it isn't allowed." She hissed, walking over to him. She grabbed him by the upper arm and for a few minutes they stood arguing quietly with each other out my hearing range.

After a couple minutes Tsukiko turned back to me and said in a softer voice, "Look… if this is about helping the Avatar defeat the Fire Lord you may be able to help him without actually living again…"

I stared at her blankly, 'This girl is really starting to get on my nerves…' I thought a bit angrily.

As Tsukiko kept talking, my gaze wandered over to Kohaku who was opening a scroll. As he read the contents his eyes widened slightly in shock and quickly looked up at Tsukiko.

"You see you won't exactly be alive but you'll still be able to help-"

"Tsukiko you might wanna see this." Kohaku showed her the open scroll and gave her a significant look.

"I know." She said simply.

"What? And you… are you crazy?" He asked unbelievably.

"No." She told him, "Let me finish." She turned her attention back to me. "As I was saying, because we're spirits of life," As she said this Kohaku gave a startled and frightened choking sound. I gave the two of them odd looks. Something was definitely weird about them.

"_Because we're spirits of life,_" Tsukiko continued giving Kohaku a disapproving look, "we can help your friend… umm… well just help him I guess…" She finished vaguely scratching the back of her head.

"Right…" I said dryly.

"Seriously!" She protested, "We can help! I promise!"

"Yeah well what does any of this have to do with me if you're telling the truth?" I asked impatiently.

"Certain people after they die can become spirits and-"

"Spirits of life." Tsukiko added in.

"And you are one of them." Kohaku finished.

"Why?" I asked.

"Various reasons." Kohaku said quickly.

I cast a doubtful look between the two spirits. Kohaku seemed a cross between angry and slightly nervous about something. Tsukiko on the other hand seemed completely confident about something.

I sighed, "I'm sorry if you're telling the truth but I really can't seem to believe you."

"Here." Tsukiko said handing me the scroll Kohaku had been looking at earlier.

I opened the scroll curiously. Inside the scroll on top was Kohaku and Tsukiko's names. Right under their name was Aang's. Below his name was blank parchment.

"Why is Aang's name in here?" I asked looking up at them in surprise.

Kohaku turned to Tsukiko, one eyebrow raised.

"Because. Spirits of life are like guardians and protect people from danger. He's the person that we're going to protect. And if we can get that brat to let us train you then you can help protect him too." Tsukiko replied.

"You really shouldn't call Pop a brat." Kohaku reprimanded her, "He already doesn't like you that much after you said that he eats like a sparrow-rabbit chewing on a fence post."

I glanced over at Tsukiko, my eyebrows raised. She seems to say a lot of strange things.

"It was true." Tsukiko said simply, "Plus if he doesn't know that I called him that, then everything is fine." She added quickly.

"So if Pop says that you can train me, then I'll be able to help Aang?" I asked, "Wait, train me for what?"

"Yup in nutshell." Tsukiko nodded. "And to train you to be a spirit of life of course."

I'm not quite sure I believe them but I don't see the harm in it…

"Ok then." I said, nodding.

"Great!" Tsukiko answered enthusiastically.

She took the scroll back and opened it all the way. In the center of the scroll was a large circle with several characters around it. She and Kohaku stood on either side of the scroll and said in unison:

"Pop!"

Immediately the circle began to glow a light green and a short figure began to rise from the circle.

I stumbled back as I saw the figure rising out of the scroll. The figure stopped floating upward and looked on either side of him to see who had summoned him there.

"Oh no not you!" He groaned as he caught sight of Tsukiko's grinning face.

I couldn't help but stare at him and I knew why Tsukiko had called him a brat. Pop was little boy who seemed about five or six years old. Like Tsukiko and Kohaku he too had wings coming out of his back. He was wearing a long dark green shirt with dark brown shorts and black shoes. Covering his flaming red hair was a dark green hat, only showing his bangs.

"Yes! It is I: Tsuki-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Pop grumbled, covering his ears stubbornly.

Tsukiko stuck her tongue out at him and he blew a raspberry back at her. She growled, returning by pulling the skin under her eyes down and pulling her nose up.

Pop was about to give her another face when Kohaku cleared his throat and said, "The reason we called you here is because we have a new spirit."

I waved at him, grinning a bit nervously when he glanced over at me.

He floated over to me and asked, "So what's your name?"

"Katara." I replied, "Uh pleased to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too." He replied, "Well I really can't imagine why you'd want to stay here with _her_," At this Tsukiko gave an angry start, "so if you can come with me, we can…"

"Actually I was hoping I could stay with them." I lied, well actually half-lied.

Pop gave me an odd look, "Are you crazy?" He asked inquisitively, actually sounding as if he honestly wanted to know.

"No…" I replied, glancing from him giving me the 'are-you-crazy?!' look, to Kohaku still looking slightly nervous, and then to Tsukiko who had her arms crossed and was pouting stubbornly. 'Or I could be if I want to stay with them… No. This is for Aang. I promised him I'd help him, and I will!'

"No I'm not crazy!" I said, more firmly and a little louder.

Pop's emerald eyes widened slightly, Kohaku glanced up at me in mild surprise, and a broad smile grew on Tsukiko's lips at the tone of my voice.

"Well. Even though it sounds like you were making sure you weren't crazy you can stay here." Pop said after a moment. "I'll come around once in a while to check on how the training is going. Now I gotta go tell Aimi about this." He said, flying to the scroll again, "See ya." And he disappeared into the scroll.

"Aimi?" I asked curiously.

Tsukiko nodded, "Aimi is the most powerful spirit of life. She's the first one also. All of the other spirits of life look up to her." She said, a respectful smile on her face.

Kohaku went over next to her, rolling up the scroll, sighing. "Well I guess it's time for us to go find Aang." He said.

Kohaku and Tsukiko floated up a few feet, "You coming?" Tsukiko asked.

"Yeah but… I don't know how to fly." I reminded her.

She and Kohaku flew down on either side of me, each taking one of my hands and lifting me up into the air.

As we flew up into the cool air, the wind blowing against my face, I couldn't help but feel as if things could get better. A smile formed on my lips and I felt my wings beginning to flap. Kohaku and Tsukiko's hands began to slip from mine as I flew up faster than them. I spun around in the air and slowed down waiting for them to catch up.

"How interesting…" A smooth, icy voice said from behind.

I turned around and saw a young man, sitting cross-legged in the air dressed in all red with black hair like coal and golden eyes watching me. The serene white wings on his back somehow seemed out of place with his aura. And there was something about the smile on his face made me slightly nervous. My eyes glanced down to Tsukiko and Kohaku to see if they had noticed, but they were deep in conversation. I looked back up to the man but he had disappeared.

I bit my lower lip and decided to not mention him to the other two. Tsukiko and Kohaku floated up to me and looked around in the sky.

"C'mon." Tsukiko said flying forward, waving her hand for us to follow.

I'm not sure how long we flew until I finally caught sight of Appa flying through the wispy clouds under us. I flew down closer to my friends and my brother, leaving Tsukiko and Kohaku, a sudden urge to cry filling my heart. I sat down between Sokka and Toph, hugging my knees to my chest, aware of the silence as thick as fog.

Even though I knew that I could someday live again and be able to talk to them all again I couldn't help but feel an overwhelming sadness in my heart. I could stay near them all I wanted now, but no matter what they wouldn't be able to see me or know I was even there.

When I had been flying it was as if I had forgotten all about why I _could _fly and how my friends would react. Part of me felt a bit guilty for having left them and making them worry even though in a way I was perfectly fine.

I hugged my knees closer to me, beginning to sob.

Suddenly I young voice broke through the silence and I felt a burst of hope and happiness in my heart like a flower blooming in spring. I lifted my head up.

"Katara?" Aang asked, his gray eyes staring straight into mine.

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**A/N: Hey sorry for the late update. It would have been up earlier but I went out of town for Easter and we lost power earlier today. I have no idea how people ever survived without electricity let alone bread. Honestly, I tried not eating bread for a little over a week. It DID NOT work. Don't try it unless you are really really really determined not to eat bread. Anyways hope you'll forgive me and I'll try to update faster next time! r&r pweese!**


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